BARBARES

Nemo refuse to let up the pace they had set with Prelude. In Barbares, there is a sense that they have less to prove, and it is really helped by this. Much like in the past 5 albums, a lot of the music is linked, not as strongly as Si part ii or Prelude, but the connections are there all the same. Barbares is not quite as accessible as Prelude, but throughout the 68 minutes, the quality never slackens. The real standout track of the album, is, (suprisingly, as this is the only time in the Nemo catalogue that this the case) Barbares, which is the best epic Nemo have ever written, better than Phileas, Les Nouvelles Croisades, and Apprentis Sorcier, and would justify this album all on its own. The fact that it is accompanied by songs like 19:59, the most energetic and catchy song Nemo have written since OGRE, and La film de ma vie, one of Nemo's beautiful trademark ballads, and songs as accomplished as l'armie des ombres, which features one of the most gorgeous endings to a mid-length song I can think of, shows how brilliant Nemo are when I say that this is the weakest album they have produced in 5 years, and yet it is still completely deserving of 5 stars. I cannot think of any other band for whom that has ever been the case.